WE CALL EM' HOW WE SEE 'EM

Archive

NFL

This game was ridiculous from start to finish. Jordan Matthews played grown man football in this one. Without a doubt one of the most heartfelt performances that you will see from a college athlete. Matthews finished the game with 10 receptions 178 and a pass that bounced off his hands and cost his team the game. He literally left it all on the field after this hit.

GIF courtesy of SB Nation

Tonight what you saw is the importance of a team effort. These Rebels rolled together.

None came up bigger than Jeff Scott who broke off a 75 yard touchdown run with 1:07 left to play in the game putting the Rebels up for good in what was one of the best games I’ve seen period. And it’s only week one.

Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze starting his career at Ole Miss with a splash. Freeze channeled his inner Stonewall Jackson and lead the rebels to victory last night against Vandy. This game is truly a testament to the adage “it isn’t how you start, it’s how you finish”. Whatever he told his team at halftime worked. The Commodores started the 3rd quarter up by 17. The rebels methodically erased that lead. One drive was dominated by freshman WR Laquon Treadwell, the #1 ranked wideout in last years recruiting class. Another drive marked by QB Bo Wallace orchestrating the read option like a savvy veteran. Led by their ground attack, the Rebels scored 29 points in the second half on the way to victory.

What we can take away from this game is that Ole Miss’ recruiting class is as good as advertised and in the years to come they will be a force to be reckoned with. Their freshmen left their mark on this game. Hugh Freeze and company might not win a SEC title this season but they might surprise some people.

James Franklin offense lacks creativity and his defense lacks consistency. Jordan Matthews is the real deal but Vandy as a team. OVERrated. If they want to succeed somebody might want to step up so Carta-Samuels won’t stare him down every play.

I was reading Of The Wings Of Atalanta by W.E.B. Dubois the other day when I get a notification from the score center app saying that Ed Reed signed with the Texans. Then the Bears tell Brian Urlacher he is asking for too much money. It is crazy how those Golden Apples corrupt us huh Atalanta? Ed Reed is one of the main reasons that the Ravens have either one of their super bowl rings. Ed Reed has been more productive than any Ravens player in the last decade; including Ray Lewis. Ed Reed has sacrificed several million dollars to remain with the Ravens all these years and now at the tail end of his career they tell him they’re deciding to go in another direction.

Then you have Brain Urlacher. He is an eight time pro bowler. Was rookie of the year. Won defensive player of the year. After 1,294 tackles and 41.5 sacks the Bears are telling Urlacher that he is asking for too much money. The same Urlacher who kept the team together through the whole Lance Briggs ordeal. The one who took them to the Super Bowl. He’s no longer good enough to be a Chicago Bear. Urlacher is Chicago football. But I guess the face of your franchise is only worth 2 million a year.

Players like Ed Reed and Brian Urlacher sacrifice so much to remain with one team because thats part of their character. That loyalty to the organization that gave them an opportunity. There were years when the Ravens and the Bears were trash and had ample opportunity to leave but they didn’t.

This is becoming a trend in the NFL. The Patriots are notorious for doing it. Randy Moss becomes the model citizen for your franchise. Breaks several records and you just let him go. The Colts cut Peyton Manning when he made their organization what it is. The Cardinals let go Adrain Wilson. The Ravens traded Anquan Boldin. And let me tell you without Boldin, Flacco would not have looked nowhere near as good as he did this season. Boldin’s ability to go up and get the ball made Flacco look amazing. And it’s not like these guys replacements are going to more productive than they were.

It just baffles me how it is okay for the team to let a player go and we chalk it up to a business decision but when a player in his prime leaves his team for more money elsewhere he is crucified as greedy and selfish. It’s never just business then. It seems like loyalty is fading and fast but maybe it’s just me. What do you guys think?

LB Shawne Merriman most known for his lights out celebration dance is calling it quits. He announced his retirement earlier today. I’m not going to go into his stats in such because i’m not very familiar with them. I do know at the start of his career we knew that he was the second coming of Junior Seau and maybe the next L.T. just light skinned. Somewhere in there he lost a step. First he had the steroid allegations. After that he hurt his knee. Got waived by the Chargers and never got his swagger back. He had a season ending achilles injury and that might have taken the fight out of him.

Whatever the case may be, Merriman left us with great memories, great hits, and a lights out dance that I demonstrated to my girlfriend and had her looking at me like a mental patient. He was one of the most exciting defensive players during his time and it’s crazy more people don’t know who he is. We know Priest Holmes still remembers. But best of luck to you in your future endeavors Shawne. Lights Out for good.

Most notably we heard about Manti Teo’s imaginary girlfriend. This story gets more and more hilarious every time something new comes out. Apparently Manti Teo had a girlfriend who he never met. Which is weird considering he was the star player on the number one team in the nation. I highly doubt that there was a shortage of females in South Bend pursuing him. It’s a huge lie. He got caught and now he is trying to do damage control. This truly sounds like something only Olivia Pope could fix. Manti’s draft stock plummeted after he pulled a disappearing act in the BCS Championship game. After this fiasco here I would have him late 3rd round, early 4th. From what I here, his measurables aren’t all that great and given this embarrassing situation I doubt he wants to go to the combine and face the ridicule from his peers.

The Lakers are 17-25 and Kobe Bryant has been very vocal about the team struggles. The coach is horrible for the team to begin with. They have two ailing big men with limited mobility. Both Pau and Dwight on the floor at the same time create serious spacing problems especially considering Dwights limitations. They obviously don’t want to play for this coach as we can see the lack of consistent tenacious play. Steve Nash has not been anywhere near effective as we though. Dwight has been close to non existent. His numbers aren’t too much lower than his career average but his impact has been minimal in just about every game. He whines and complains about the team but I haven’t seen him take any type of initiative to get the team back on track. I say trade Pau, trade Dwight.

Speaking of trading superstars the New York Jets have been shopping around All Pro cornerback Darrel Revis. Revis has been the only consistent high performer on the defense so I am not understanding this move at all. The Jets are a joke. Rex Ryan is a joke. The owner is a joke. The owner came out and said that Tim Tebow was forced on him. You go out and trade for a player that you don’t give an opportunity to win you games. That is crazy. Tebow may not have the tangibles but he wins. Sanchez throws interceptions and McElroy holds on tight to his Crimson Tide glory days because he’ll never see success at this level.

The Ravens and the 49ers are in the Har-Bowl. Colin Kapernick has an amazing story. It’s kind of like Willie Beamin, any given sunday, ish. Or how the dude replaces boobie miles in Friday Night Lights. The whole fiasco itself is interesting. God has Ray Lewis on his side or does Ray Lewis have God on his side? I’m not sure but I don’t blog about murderers. I’ll take the Ravens. Bernard Pollard has been channeling Bernard Hopkins and his nickname because he has been the executioner these past few weeks. Ravens 30-17

The Atlanta Falcons are up against the San Francisco 49ers this weekend. All week my father has been saying “It don’t mean a thang if you aint got that rang”. He is a lifelong 49ers fan and is referencing the fact that the Atlanta Falcons have never won a Super Bowl. That could all change this year, but first the Falcons have to get past the 49ers.

The key to that will be discipline. Last week 49ers QB Colin Capernick destroyed the 49ers defense with 444 total yards and four touchdowns. Largely due to the success of the read option play. The Packers defense gave up huge plays on the ground opening up the play action and Kapernick made them pay.

It really adds up to horrible coaching. The defensive coordinator and position coaches simply weren’t doing their jobs down their own the sidelines. When defending the option gap/assignment responsibility is the only way you stop it unless you get penetration and blow every play up. That’s back to the basics of football. Defensive end has outside containment. Sam backer has QB. Safety has pitch man and everybody’s job is to make the tackle or turn the play back inside. You never lose containment on the ball. MAINTAIN DISCIPLINE!!

Luckily the Falcons have a defense that can do just that. They have a pretty athletic front seven that can chase down the option if need be. Their defense as a whole has seen success due to the scheme it runs and not individual performances. That’s why teams do better in the second half vs the Falcons because in the first half they can’t figure out what the defense is up to for the most part. The Falcons have a good coaching staff and i’m sure they’ll be prepared. The problem is that the 49ers can play smashmouth, they can spread the field and throw ball around, and they have the read option. Their personnel allows them to be versatile in whatever approach they choose.

They key to this game will be the Falcons getting up early and making the 49ers one dimensional on offense. Kapernick is a subpar passer so if they have to rely on his arm I don’t see the 49ers winning. But if the game is close and the 49ers pound the ball with Gore and James then the Falcons will give up some big runs and then comes the play action.

On the other side of the ball the Falcons just have to keep Matt Ryan standing upright cause that 49er pass rush is no joke. We’ll see the Falcons go their screen game and try to get Michael Turner going if the pass rush becomes a problem. This is going to be a good game. Not saying that they are the best but as whole these are two of the most talented offenses in the NFL. I’m excited for this game and seeing as I am a faithful Buccaneers fan I hate the Falcons. But since i’m an Atlanta native i’ll say this just once.

When you ask questions like this people get really touchy. “Of course Andy Reid is over-rated”; “No way is Reid over-rated”. Well, what are you rating Andy Reid?

Are we giving Andy Reid 100% of the credit for the Eagles success during his tenure as head coach? If so, yes Andy Reid is over rated. Reid’s scheme has just been blessed with very talented players on offense. Reid has been criticized heavily for throwing the ball entirely too much in his career for just reason. It wasn’t Andy Reid’s scheme that made the Eagle’s offense successful, it was Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook. Before Terrell Owens, the biggest receivers in Philly were Freddie Mitchell and Todd Pinkston. I can’t think of one instance where Reid’s coaching won the game for them.

You know whose play calling has won Philly some games? Jim Johnson. Johnson’s scheme had opposing offenses scared to play against that defense. Brian Dawkins had offensive players deathly afraid to cross the middle of the field. Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor were two shutdown corners. The combination of Jim Johnson, Westbrook, McNabb, and Dawkins kept that team afloat. It wasn’t all Reid. Actually it was more them and less Reid.

People say well Andy Reid drafted them and hired Jim Johnson. Nope. That is the general managers job. Reid plays more of a consultant role in situations like that. Without Dawkins that defense became soft and the Eagles became the easy bake oven of defenses. The Eagles organization forgot that defense is what got them that far and not some extremely prolific offense. They gave Andy Reid too much credit and forgot about all the little things. I mean look at them now, a hodgepodge of high priced free agents with no heart.

So if you ask me I’d say yes. Andy Reid is extremely over rated. Andy Reid reminds me of Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas. Jim Johnson, McNabb and especially Dawkins gave that entire team character. Without those leaders the Eagles are just characters, cartoons at that.

Over the years I have watch Michael Vick wow me with moves quicker than an antelope , making defense look similar to when coyote would try to catch road runner. I have also watched him disgust me with his inaccuracy, lack of preparation, and his inflated ego which won’t allow him to accept what he is not….A GOOD quarterback.

Michael Vick to me is Good China. He’s a great conversation topic, it’s nice to say you have him, he’s extremely, and his functionality is equal to that of a paper plate. Vick has been exciting, he has been a good QB, but in his entire career he has not been a good QB. He never watched film in Atlanta because he thought he was so special that no other defense would resemble what teams would use against him. Idiot.

The Eagles figured well the china hasn’t been used in awhile, maybe we’ll get some good use out of it. Vick was 31 when the Eagles signed him to a 6 year deal worth 100 million dollars. Who pays 100 million dollars for used china? The dumbest move in history. Now Eagles fans are angry because Vick is doing what he’s always done. Be a horrible QB. And now that his years are catching up with him and everyone is just as fast he can’t really rely as heavily on those quick antelope moves he once had. But hey the Eagles could always put a cheetah on his back.

These days Vick’s leash is close to nonexistent. Although Nick Foles isn’t looking like the future at QB, neither is Vick. Foles is a lot cheaper than Vick, and football is still a business. Why pay more for the same production? There is a clause in Vicks contract that says if he gets hurt next season the Eagles can pay him the 3 million dollar guaranteed money and part ways with him. When dose Vick not get hurt? Vick was a Hokie, Falcon, then an Eagle. Given his love of team with bird Mascots could Vick be a Cardinal next season? They could use some good china down in Arizona.